Nov/Dec Cycle for Baby #2 attempt?

[LYD10]

Barbara, yes I am going to poas. I am going to star tonight to see the trigger go out and also I am using new tests from Amazon, so I not even know where the 2nd line is supposed to be.

[kerpupples]

Lyd - wowsers, that sounds like the best possible transfer! Good feeling about those 3 8 cell embies!

Barbara - most previas move so I doubt you'll even have to deal with any of the concerns that I had. Why blue? Excellent question. It could be the IVF concerns ahead, or the fact that DD says "I'm mad at you" now whenever she doesn't get what she wants, or that DH has been drinking too much, or it could just be my bloody hormones. I hope it will pass soon. I do still feel very good about my chances for this FET.

[SueQiwi]

CT Michelle~My heart is just breaking for you. I am so sorry the way things turned out. What a disaster! It is so unfair--you must be exhausted. Give your gorgeous daughter big hugs. I hope this last cycle will provide you with closure.

Alexis~ congratulations!! What fantastic news!! I hope your next beta is even stronger.

Lyd~Those embryos sound amazing!! You go Girl!! Nice job--especially at 40!! wow. (I'm 42--so you are an inspiration to me)

Neffi~Don't give up yet. There is still hope for a BFP.

Barbara~Terrific news about your ultrasound. Hopefully you can relax a bit now.

Kerpuppies~I hope this is a winning cycle for you. The stress of an upcoming IVf on top of everyday normal life stress can make anybody grumpy! I hope you have a good weekend.

I am expecting AF any day now. Feeling bummed out as I was hoping for that miracle natural pregnancy after fertility treatments that you always hear about! But don't think that will be me. I will start taking BCPs on day one when I get AF.

[alexis]

Hi ladies!

Lyd, great embryos! That is so awesome and it sounds like your chances will be so great for at least one to take! Now, it's the hard waiting period. At least you will start POAS so you will see everything change as you go. Please keep us posted!

Kerpupples, sorry to hear you are feeling blue, but you are at an exciting time in the cycle. Fresh start and the possibilities are endless. I can understand feeling blue though...this road through infertility is never easy! Especially with regular life stressors on top of emotions and crazy hormone swings! Hope the weekend is great and just what you need!

Barbara, thanks for sharing all of your next step experiences with me. I sure appreciate it and all the wisdom we can all gain from each other's experiences! It's amazing how quickly you can forget all this stuff once you have a beautiful baby! I sure hope this cycle will be the one for us!

SueQiwi, welcome back! Great to see you back on. I know what you mean about hoping for that miracle pregnancy without fertility treatment. I was hoping for that every month after my son was born so we could avoid all of this! Either way, it will be worth it in the end, right? Keep us posted on your progress!

AFM, I am so frustrated today! I got my blood for my 2nd beta drawn at 7:30am (not at my fertility clinic, but at a lab closer to home) and I STILL don't have my beta results yet! I am so mad. I am sure I irritated all the people I spoke with at my clinic throughout the day, but waiting for test results is so difficult! Finally, I called the lab to find out what was going on and apparently the blood analyzer at the hospital was BROKEN all day! How the heck does that happen? I am hoping I will get my results back tomorrow, but who knows on a Saturday? I think everything should be ok, but having the numbers to reassure me would be so great! I'll keep you posted once I have new information.

Have a good weekend guys!

[LYD10]

Hi Alexis, I am sorry you still don't know your beta. How frustrating. But your First one was so strong you don't have to worry about it.

Kerpupples, iam sorry you are feeling blue. I know what you mean about terrible twos - sometimes my son is in a bad mood and on those days It is so hard.

Right now I am lying in bed upstairs as I hear my DH feeding my DS. Fun times. I am going to bed rest today, but then wil get up tomorrow to help with DS. They game Xanax for transfer and it's pretty good stuff. I am just drifting in and out of sleep.

Just curious,how do you guys find being a workin mom? I often find myself feeling guilty at work that I don't have time to cook as much as I'd like, but I think I am finally getting the hang of it. I was not a great cook before, but I seem to be getting the hang of some time saving recepis and tht helps.also,DS has gotten into the habit of playing in the kitchen while we cook so it helps.
Another big change is how little time I have to myself now. I used to work out regularly, now I am lucky to grab a morning yoga here and there or a spin class at lunch. It's amazing how things changed.

I hope our rain stops tomorrow. It's so much easier to keep my DS happy outside and we are so spoiled in California with good weather.
We are considering a 8 hour drive up north over the holidays. Never spent o much time with DS in the car. Any pointers?

[alexis]

Hi Lyd! I'm glad you are on bedrest today and taking it easy. I'm sure it's hard to hear everything going on downstairs, but it's great to have had some drugs to help you relax

I am a working mom and I always have mixed feelings about it; mostly because I never have enough time to get anything done! I know myself and know that working brings me a different kind of satisfaction than if I were a stay at home mom. Our son absolutely loves his day care and I think he gets so much out of it. They are so structured and provide so many different learning opportunities than I think I would provide to him if I stayed home with him. Everyday, I look forward to him coming home too. It's the best part of my day! It has really helped me with my work-life balance too since we had him. I keep work in better perspective now than I did before my son. In terms of time to yourself or working out, hah! I wish I had that one figured out. I am lucky if I can work out a couple of times a week and it's never as good as it used to be before I had my son. With him being in daycare, I just can't spend time away from him when I only have a few hours with him each night during the week. I would like to find a better balance because I know working out is so nourishing for me, but I definitely haven't gotten there yet.

Long car ride? Well, I would imagine a DVD might help for parts of the drive. We also usually have one of us sit in the back with our son for long road trips to continue providing him with different toys or entertainment. It will be more frequent stops too. I hope it goes well for you!

Take care of yourself and talk to you soon!

[LYD10]

Alexis, I know what you mean about work life balance and perspective. I used to obsess about work and think about it in the after hours. Now I am so engrossed and busy in the evenings I could care less. That part I definitely like - the perspective part. I also think I couldn't be a stay home mom - my son is very social and I don't have the energy to keep up with him 24/7. Also, if raising him was my full time job then I would start obsessing about that so maybe in a way its good to juggle both things - this way you can keep both in perspective. I guess I just wish I had a little bit more time to myself for work outs and what not. But I have to be realistic. I think that comes later when the kids are older.

I am so bad - I added baby aspirin to my post transfer medication list. I read on the Internet that high levels of estrogen can cause blood clotting and lower implantation chances. Aspirin is supposed to help with that. The evidence is inconclusive but my clinic did have me take it during my FET, just not during my fresh transfer. Anyway I emailed my embryologist who will read it on Monday and reply. If she tells me to stop I will, but I thought it couldn't hurt. The only downside is later on, too much blood flow to uterus can cause sub chorionic hematoma and bleeding during pregnancy. So I thought I would take it up to my beta and then stop. Anyway I don't think 3 nights on baby aspirin are going to hurt and on Monday my embryologist can tell me to stop if she wants me to.

They measured my estrogen during transfer today and it went up to 3600. Weird why would it do that? It came down after retrieval to 2300 and now back u to 3600. I guess the hCG shot in my system continued to stimulate my ovaries which produced more estrogen later on.

Do any of you ladies know how high your estrogen got in the fresh cycles?

[Neffi211]

I am officially throwing in the towel....8dp5dt...Negative. I am so numb. Still no tears. The fact that I will never be pregnant again is heartbreaking. Thanks for all the support. My IVF journey is over. adoption and surrogacy(with donor embryos) may be in our future. I did have a meeting with a birthmom last night that went well so who knows....only time will tell. I can tell everyone that I will have my big family one day! No matter how I get it! I also spoke with the woman from Children and Youth yesterday and she is sending me the info for foster to adopt.....

I hope you all get your BFPs. I will continue to read. Thanks again!

[Happy Bunny]

Neffi, I'm so sorry. It sounds good that you've got other pokers in the fire with foster and adoption. Hopefully, those opportunities start moving quickly so that you can focus on them instead of this.

[LYD10]

Neffi, so sorry. I am glad you are exploring other options. Please keep in touch and let us know how it goes.

[Happy Bunny]

Lyd: POAS everyday? lol! You are so hardcore - I love it!

Alexis: Any word yet? That has to be the most aggravating wait ever! I can't believe that they've kept you hanging this long. Hopefully, the lab will call today and not make you wait until Monday.

As for the working mom question... I'm a stay at home mom. We decided in my last pregnancy that my job (Industrial Chemist) was too toxic to perform while pregnant so I left. I literally reeked of organic solvents at the end of the day. My time at home is one of the deciding factors in having a second child so fast - I want to reduce how much time I spend off of my career.

It's been an odd transition. At first, I literally paced around the house because I was so used to working and being on a mission. Now, I've settled into a routine and I'm happy to be at home to parent. My husband makes it easy for me. When he gets home, he does a lot of parenting so that I get a little break from 24/7 infant care.

Being stay at home is very isolating... That's one of the toughest parts. Me staying at home is compounded by us being a military family stationed away from home. I didn't invest in making a lot of friends here because our stay here is temporary and I have no family in the area so the days can get long and lonely. I do a lot of arts and crafts, cooking and various hobbies to add to my day.

[LYD10]

Barbara, sounds like you made the right choice to stay at home. With your work being so dangerous. And even if it wasn't - being a stay at home mom is definitely something to consider. I Always wonder what's going to happen whey DS starts going to school. Elementary school hours are so short, I guess he ll go to after care. But what about being able to take him to various activities like soccer and what not. I guess we ll see. Also I feel guilty being a SAHM with just one child. If I had 2 or 3 than it becomes a different kind of equation. Anyway, 1 step at a time.

Well, I did as much bed rest as I could yesterday. For some reason my son decided not to sleep well last night. Which is very unusual for him. Usually he is out and that's it. But I think my husband must have warmed up the house too much and maybe he was too hot, or maybe he missed seeing me all night, in any case I was up and down from my bed till 2am comforting him when he would wake up. Finally he went down for good around 1:30am. This morning I was up with them to prepare his lunch and now they took off to his little kid gymnastics and then grandparents for a bit. So I am back on the couch getting a few more hours of bed rest.

I haven't gotten a chance to poas yet. I just want to make sure that my pregnancy tests are working. To see the trigger hCG. Maybe in a little while.

[alexis]

Hi guys. Quick update on my 2nd beta: it was 466! It didn't quite double from 260, but it was definitely over the 1.5 times mark, so I think they were happy with that. My ultrasound is scheduled for Friday, 12/23. I am so excited. I'm sure this week will feel pretty long, but hopefully the wait will be worth it

Neffi, I'm so sorry you think this is it. I still hope for a miracle, but it also sounds like you have a good plan in mind to expand your family in another way. Please do keep us posted.

Back to house cleaning!

[LYD10]

Hi Alexis, awesome news! Congrats! That's nice to have such an early u/s! To see how many and if everything is on time. At my office I often have to wait for 2 weeks.

AFM, I just poased to make sure the Internet tests were working and I am glad I did. The line - detecting my trigger hCG - 6 days after the trigger - was very faint. And it took a fairly long time to come up. So now I know what to expect from these tests. And I guess I almost missed my trigger. I thought the trigger was supposed to hang around for 10 days... I guess we ll see. I'll try again in a few days to see if it's gone. I just checked the Internet - looks like the trigger goes away by day 8 or so. So on Monday I should be all clear.
Btw, in my previous cycles when I got a BFP - even if it was a chemical or ectopic - my ovaries would start to hurt again once I had hCG back in my system from the embryo. So maybe I don't even need to POAS, maybe I can just wait for my ovaries to start hurting again

[Happy Bunny]

Alexis: Great second beta! With my first pregnancy, my second beta didn't double. Like yours, it was still in the accepted range and my doctor was pleased with it.

Lyd: Are you going to keep testing every day or wait to start again on Monday?

AFM: I'm still spotting. I have a strict "Wipe and Don't Look" policy now because I've promised to ignore the spotting and let myself enjoy the pregnancy. My doctor says that we're healthy and looking good so I'm going to go with that instead of letting my non-doctor brain make wild and negative predictions.